Fresh bid for 350 home project in Tullamore

A proposal for one of the biggest residential developments in the county in many years encompassing almost 350 units, a medical centre, creche and several shop units is back on the table.

A fresh planning application is due to be lodged shortly to An Bord Pleanála for 349 units on a circa 14.3 hectare site at Clonminch and Gayfield, Clonminch Road, Tullamore, some 2km from the town.

The new planning bid by Steinfort Investments Fund comes after the same company was refused permission by An Bord Pleanála in late November of 2020, for a residential development of 358 residential units (172 houses and 186 apartments) and a childcare facility on the same site on the outskirts of Tullamore, on land, some of which is under the control of Offaly County Council.

A planning notice published by the developers this week has brought the project back into focus, as they signalled their intention to lodge another application as part of the Strategic Housing Development (SHD) fast-track planning process.

Currently planning applications of more than 100 units can be submitted directly to An Bord Pleanála for a final decision.

This is due to change towards the end of October after Darragh O’Brien, Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, announced the scrapping of the Strategic Housing Developments (SHD) process earlier this year, replacing it with streamlined arrangements for large-scale housing projects which will restore decision-making to local authorities.

What’s proposed in the latest planning bid is a total of 349 dwellings, slightly less than before, in “detached, semi-detached, terraced/townhouse and apartment form and in buildings ranging in height from one to four storeys high”.

No details of the numbers of each home type is listed in the planning notice.

Also earmarked are two three-storey neighbourhood centre buildings, which is more than the original plans, one of which provides for three local shops at ground floor level with the first and second floor proposed as a business hub.

The second neighbourhood centre building is divided into four shops and a medical centre at ground floor level. The medical centre would extend to the first floor, the planning notice indicates, while the second floor is earmarked for a gym.

A standalone three-storey crèche building is also proposed with a potential capacity for 100 children.

The total non-residential floorspace proposed in the project, taking in the shops, neighbourhood buildings, extends to a total of 4,362 square metres, the planning notice says.

Public open space will take the form of both ‘green’ landscape and hard-surfaced civic space and is in addition to communal space, the notice adds, providing for 16,207 square metres in all for open space, more than the first application.

Other features of the project include an increased number of car parking spaces (695) in a combination of what’s described as “in curtilage, basement and on-street parking” along with bicycle parking and storage.

Vehicle access to the development will be via the Clonminch Road (R443) via a new signal-controlled junction. It also provides for future potential pedestrian connections from the project to Clonminch Wood, and for works to Clonminch Road covering the provision of two new bus stops and cycle lanes. Footpaths, public lighting, four ESB substations, roads and boundary treatments are also included in the proposals.

The first planning application to An Bord Pleanála was turned down after the board had concerns that the project was “dominated by roads and surface car parking” and resulted in a “poor design concept for the site” which failed to establish a sense of place, and included “poor quality of urban and architectural design”.

It had garnered 63 public submissions, the vast majority from residents of two existing housing estates in the area, who were unhappy with the scale, density, height, the potential for traffic congestion and the overall impact on a quiet area.

The site is bounded by Clonminch Wood, Limefield, Clonminch Road, and a number of dwellings would front onto Clonminch Road to the west, and to the south, east and north by open fields.

An Environmental Impact Assessment Report and a Natura Impact Statement have been prepared in relation to the project, the planning notice states, both of which can be viewed with the application details in the offices of Offaly County Council and An Bord Pleanála once the application is lodged.

Details can also be inspected online on the following website set up by the applicant (www.clonminchshd2.ie).

Written submissions or observations can be made by the public with the period of five weeks of An Bord Pleanála receiving the formal application, and on payment of €20 to An Bord Pleanála, 64 Marlborough Street, Dublin 1 or online at www.pleanala.ie relating to the implications of the proposed project.